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Tyres… also roadside assistance.

linnfomaniac83 said:
Depends on the car I suppose, but a mate who had a brand new BMW had to take it back to the dealership 19 times in the first year, then it caught fire in the second year. My cousin is a technical advisor for Motability and he’s a very, very busy guy… lots to go wrong on new cars, and they do go wrong.

Another friend had a timing chain failure on a MK7 golf (actually timing chain guides), you can imagine how much that costs to fix, and it isn’t uncommon.
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For all of those, no amount of care by the customer would've achieved anything.
 
Tony Lockhart said:
For all of those, no amount of care by the customer would've achieved anything.
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Yes, your right. I suppose my point is that most older cars that have been neglected are no more… those still going, at least those over 20 years old, are usually owned by people that love them. Yes they probably require more ongoing maintenance than a new car because bits wear, but catastrophic failures are less common.
 
linnfomaniac83 said:
Yes, your right. I suppose my point is that most older cars that have been neglected are no more… those still going, at least those over 20 years old, are usually owned by people that love them. Yes they probably require more ongoing maintenance than a new car because bits wear, but catastrophic failures are less common.
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From driving up and down between Tomintoul and Edinburgh the last couple of months I see a lot of enthusiast cars (including older ones) and new cars on those roads and what I've seen in terms of breakdowns (and there have been quite a few) has been:
  • Land Rovers/Range Rovers - age doesn't seem to matter, but I probably seen more of those broken down at the side of the road than everything else put together.
  • Jaguars - by a fair margin the 2nd most likely car to be seen broken down - and again age doesn't seem to be a big factor
  • Volvo's - not all that many and usually older models which look somewhat neglected
  • Tesla's - see quite a few of those on the backs of trucks
I've seen the occasional broken down vintage car (MG's mostly but they might be the biggest group of vintage cars anyway) and the very occasional modern one (mostly smaller European models - Fiats, Citroens and Peugots).

Anyway my impression is that in terms of likelyhood of breakdowns the manufacturer seems more important than the vehicle age.
 
SteveS1 said:
Good luck with finding a desirable car with a spare. :)

I had a run flat fail, fortunately not at speed. They will survive more trauma than a normal tyre but not always enough - in which case you are still facing a road assistance rescue even having paid more for the tyre and put up with a compromised ride. No thanks.

Presumably they are being moved away from for a reason.
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Apologies if I've misunderstood but I don't want a car with a spare? Hardly any cars come with a spare now thanks to the fact it weighs a lot and impacts on CO2 measurements, and as I say I wouldn't want to be mucking around roadside trying to change one even if it had one - the scissor jacks they used to include are usually poor and the risk of damage to the car or jack failure is high. If a tyre's so badly destroyed I'd be sitting tight and calling out the roadside assist I have in place.

I've had RunFlats on various BMWs since 2009 and the tech has improved enormously - they're not perfect but I'd prefer them to a tin of gunk and 12v-powered inflator.

You say they're 'being moved away from' - where's that information from out of interest?
 
Funk said:
I've had RunFlats on various BMWs since 2009 and the tech has improved enormously - they're not perfect but I'd prefer them to a tin of gunk and 12v-powered inflator.

You say they're 'being moved away from' - where's that information from out of interest?
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Upthread.

SteveS1 said:
Well, that seems to be the case. I'm picking up a Z4 G29 and was really pleased to see that I wouldn't have to change the tyres and was told they are all like that.
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I've heard Mini customers say the same. I've owned BMWs at various times over many years and ime the run-flats have gone from seriously shite to 'not as bad as they were' which still doesn't cut it. The difference on two 4 series M Sports is still obvious, with the non-runflats providing a less fidgety ride and less noise. For the odd puncture over many years I wouldn't personally compromise those aspects.

I dare say there are some models, particularly larger ones, that cope better
 
That's my C200 now wearing its set of Cross Climates so it'll be interesting see how they are in practice. I'm heading back to Tomintoul tomorrow evening, taking in some of the fun roads on the way (although as usual I'll be taking it easy as I'll have the dog in the car), so that should give them a good try out.

The idea (which the reviews appear to support) of a summer type tyre with winter performance and rating is what appealed (especially with weekly trips to Tomintoul) so if they work out my car then my wife's SLK might also get a set.
 
Funk said:
Are you talking about the video Tony posted with VW's new tyres?

FWIW, I have no complaints about the ride, noise or handling of my current car on RFTs.
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Nope, see post #11.

I'm glad you have no complaints. That's not the same as the ride, noise and handling not being as good on RFTs - which they are not. This was the purpose of comparing them, same model and set up. I'm just pleased the new Z4 doesn't have them, so I won't have to change them myself. Everyone's happy.
 
linnfomaniac83 said:
Yes, your right. I suppose my point is that most older cars that have been neglected are no more… those still going, at least those over 20 years old, are usually owned by people that love them. Yes they probably require more ongoing maintenance than a new car because bits wear, but catastrophic failures are less common.
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There's a well known U shaped curve for car failure. Early failures for the badly assembled or due components from new. Then no drama 30-80k miles for reasonably well maintained cars, then finally 80k plus stuff just waering out.
 
SteveS1 said:
Nope, see post #11.

I'm glad you have no complaints. That's not the same as the ride, noise and handling not being as good on RFTs - which they are not. This was the purpose of comparing them, same model and set up. I'm just pleased the new Z4 doesn't have them, so I won't have to change them myself. Everyone's happy.
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Fair enough. Interestingly BMW have never put RFTs on most M-cars, wonder if they're finally trickling that down. That said, mine's hardly the sportiest, it's a bit of a barge and I tend to pootle about.. :D
 
stevec67 said:
There's a well known U shaped curve for car failure. Early failures for the badly assembled or due components from new. Then no drama 30-80k miles for reasonably well maintained cars, then finally 80k plus stuff just waering out.
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Yes this is true… but the 20+ year old enthusiast cars have had all this dealt with, my Golf certainly has… it’s showing some cosmetic issues now but those will be addressed too. It’s had most of the major wear and tare parts replaced, the only mechanical issue it has right now is the air conditioning clutch, that’s started playing up since Monday, sounds like a playing card in a bicycle wheel, but it’s not going to cause a breakdown and the air conditioning is still ice cold, it’s just annoying… it’ll cost maybe £100 to fix and will be done on Wednesday. Big things started to fail between about 110k and 130k, but I fixed them all, and now the car is more like a 20-30k car mechanically, and it’s still cost far less than the depreciation on a new car. The worst thing that could happen would be a catastrophic engine failure, but an engine replacement would cost less than the deposit on a new car, so it’d get one.

I suppose a lot of 10-15 year old cars are driven by people who will drive them until something big fails, then they’ll scrap them and buy another… bangernomics motoring. 20 year old+ motors are generally past that stage.

There’s a guy down the road from me who has a truly pristine Peugeot 306 S16, most of those cars were driven into the ground but this one is a true survivor… I really want it, unlike anything new from Peugeot. I’ve already told him to let me know if he ever wants to sell it.
 
I do wonder at the wisdom of scrapping an otherwise good car when it hands you a bill similar to its market value. I can see that if money is tight, binning it and buying another banger may be cheaper, short term, but you are getting an unknown quantity which could hand you another bill within days. Moreover, the existing vehicle is familiar and you have some idea whether it’s reliable, otherwise. Then there’s the environmental issue.

My brother recently scrapped an otherwise very nice Volvo XC90 when it handed him a c£2k bill. He’d had the car from nearly new and looked after it. It seemed to me that it should have been worth more, to him, than the notional market value. Scrapping an otherwise decent car just feels wrong, to me.
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
Scrapping an otherwise decent car just feels wrong, to me.
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I agree with you. Once a car gets to a certain age or mileage, there will be some big ticket items that need replacing. The cost of maintenance may not make much sense in terms of depreciated value, but in the context of what a new car would cost, it's a bargain. The difference in value to the owner vs market value has never been starker.
 
James said:
I agree with you. Once a car gets to a certain age or mileage, there will be some big ticket items that need replacing. The cost of maintenance may not make much sense in terms of depreciated value, but in the context of what a new car would cost, it's a bargain. The difference in value to the owner vs market value has never been starker.
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My car is worth about £2k, it has pretty much stopped depreciating. Even if it hands me a £2k bill, that’s still less than a year’s payments/depreciation on a new(er) car.
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
My car is worth about £2k, it has pretty much stopped depreciating. Even if it hands me a £2k bill, that’s still less than a year’s payments/depreciation on a new(er) car.
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Your decision will be forced when it hands you a £2K tax bill every year to keep it on the road!
 
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